September 28th, 2008 · Comments Off on Alltop, Roy Orbison and Car of the Day
A few month’s after Roy Orbison’s death his song “You Got It” was released and reached #1 on the adult contemporary chart.
The chorus to that song said “Anything you want, you got it. Anything you need, you got it. Anything at all, you got it.”
And that is Alltop. Anything you want, you got it. Alltop is a meta-site that has done an amazing job of organinzing the blogosphere and news reports.
Alltop is now including Car of the Day updates in their listing of Automotive information.
And speaking of Roy Orbison he owned some fine cars in his life. One of his cars sits in the Corvette Museum, could just as easily sit in the Rock and Roll hall of fame. It is a gorgeous 1967 427 Corvette Convertible.
As Roy would say, “Mercy!”
Tags: Cars
September 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
By John Allen – Denton, Texas 9/24/2008
What follows is a detailed acount of a 2004 Saab 9-3 Linear versus a 2004.5 VW GLI. The Saab is driven by John, the VW by Simon. The following account is accurate and was written by John.
This is the story of a grudge race that happened this Wednesday evening at the 1/8th mile track in Denton. These cars have raced a couple times, and although the GLI has the Saab on HP and Torque the 9-3 has managed to win. This is the story of their latest rematch.
It was a cool night. The sour smell of burning clutches hung in the air. The mood was charged with excitement for Simon was getting his rematch. John and Simon raced a couple preliminary heats to get the adrenaline pumping and to shake the jitters out of their bodies. Simon with great exuberance, John however knew it wasn’t the main event and worked on technique.
At 9:45 both men knew it was time. The tension filled the air. The crowd was hungry with anticipation. It was the main event. The final race for the T-Shirt. No quarter asked, and none given.
As the drivers pulled up to the staging area, John felt a calm wash over him. He knew if he could win the start it was over and he was full of confidence. With good reason, he had on his lucky racing shirt and had proved his mettle in the past.
The lights came on and the racers were off in a flash of light and brilliance. (Sort of) John’s cat like reflexes gave him a reaction time of 0.0277, less than three 100ths of a second. The pressure got to poor Simon. His car did not move for 0.2264 seconds, giving the Bronze Saab a 2 tenths of a second head start. But, would it be enough?
At 60 feet John held a strong lead of .2 seconds and felt comfortable in the drivers seat. His tires were sticky on the pavement with no slippage or hopping. The race started to change at 330 feet. Simon was slowly climbing back into it. Even though he had almost no chance he would not give up. He was only 0.0293 seconds behind, and closing.
It was too little to late for Simon. John was the winner by a margin of .0692 seconds. John drove back to the pits and was greeted by his fans with cheers and admiration. His sweetheart was waiting with open arms and a kiss.
The night was John’s, and Simon had to drive home alone, thinking about the next time. (again)
John Allen is a guest writer for “Car of the Day” and is a regular drag racer and Saab enthusiast.
Tags: 1.8t · Cars · Miscellaneous · Saab · VW
September 26th, 2008 · Comments Off on Remember the Dodge Daytona?
A few years ago Dodge hit a major performance home run the with the SRT-4. It was heralded as one of the best bangs for buck that a person could get their hands on. It was basically a 230hp Neon with potential for a lot more power.
Back in 1993 Dodge produced their last and best Dodge Daytona. It was a 224hp turbo-charged sports coupe with more style than the SRT-4 and nearly as much power.
I’m not an expert on turbo Dodges, there is a whole club about all the turbo Dodges that were ever made. I did find this great write up about the Dodge Daytona R/T IROC at starbangers.com. It is a Motor Trend article from 1993.
There is also a green Dodge Dayton IROC on Autotrader right now with only 19k miles for $9,950.
That may sound like a lot for a 15 year old Dodge. This IROC is one of 800 so it is a rare turbo Dodge and it has amazingly low mileage.
These cars paved the way for the modern Dodge turbos and packed a serious punch, but they have some design flaws, but there is a good aftermarket and body of knowledge to help a Dodge owner fix those flaws.
And of course if you want more information about anything Dodge or Chrysler you can always a wealth of information at www.allpar.com
Tags: Cars · Daytona · Dodge
September 25th, 2008 · Comments Off on GT500KR vs GTO
For those of you who don’t know the GT500KR is a Carroll Shelby version of the GT500. The GT500KR is a Mustang GT with 540hp coming from its supercharged 5.4 liter V8 engine. Each GT500KR starts its life off as a simple GT500 and then is sent to Las Vegas to Carroll Shelby’s speed shop and is converted into a KR. KR stands for King of the Road. The price tag on a GT500KR is nearly $80,000. There is only plans for 1571 of this cars to built in the US for next 2 years.
Tonight I raced number 250 in my GTO and won and then I promptly lost the next race. While my 2006 GTO is fast, it is really out of its league with the GT500KR. The only reason I got a win was because this was a new GT500KR with a driver trying to figure out how to put an estimated 511rwhp to the ground. Apparently the GT500KRs are a bit underrated. By the end of the night he was running almost half a second faster than me and trapping nearly 10mph faster than my lowly GTO. The GT500KR is really in a whole different league than my GTO. The only reason I got a win was because it was one of his first runs down the track.
It was great to see such a rare car running at the track. I may never see another out there. Most people aren’t buying their GT500KRs to run at the track. This car was trailered in and still had the window stickers on it and factory plastic over the seats and parts of the dash.
The owner admitted that a person would be better off buying a GT500 for only $46,000 and then adding the bits that make the GT500KR a better car. However just adding the bits that make a KR the King of the Road wouldn’t create another GT500KR. A KR is a rare special car touched by the engineers at Carroll Shelby’s speed shop and when you get that car you get a piece of automotive history.
The GT500KR is also the car that is used as the basis for the new Knight Rider TV show. It is the modern K.I.T.T.
Keep an eye out for the all the Shelby GT Mustangs. There is a Shelby GT350 and GT350-H which are 4.6 liter V8 powered Mustangs with performance more like the slighty quicker Mustang GT. However, if you see any GT500s, remember that those cars are powered by the same engine as the Ford GT supercar.
Tags: Cars · Ford · GT500KR · GTO · Mustang
September 24th, 2008 · Comments Off on The V8 Muscle Sedan Nobody Wanted
So the M45’s styling was an acquired taste (and by acquired taste I mean ugly) but, not everyone cares too much about styling. It looked a bit like a Japanese version of a wiseguy car.
Once again a marketing flop coupled with depreciation is your friend. The Infiniti M45’s base price in 2003 was $42,845 but could optioned to more than $10,000 over the base price. It was a decent deal than and it is a great deal now.
The first Infiniti M45 featured a 340hp V8 that could move this luxury sedan to 60 mph in just under 6 seconds. The complaints about the M45 center around styling and a small backseat for a car of this type. However the praises center around the heart of this car that beats under the hood. It was heralded as a budget V8 BMW 5 Series.
If you don’t think the styling is artocious and are looking for an interesting car in the $15,000 neighborhood, then check out the M45. Find one, visit it in person, checkout the high end luxury features and options, including climate-controlled seats, (heated and cooled) laser-based cruise control, Infiniti voice recogonition audio, HVAC and DVD based navigation. What you will find is a great car that nobody wanted.
Tags: Cars · Infiniti · M45
September 23rd, 2008 · Comments Off on Fav 5 Automotive Articles from Last Week
Here’s a quick run down of some of the best automotive articles of the week.
Enjoy!
Tags: Cars · Fav 5 · Miscellaneous
September 22nd, 2008 · Comments Off on Warning: Do Not Read This Article!
Ok. Not this article, but this article. Inside Line is a favorite place of mine to get some great car comparisons and new car news. They usually provide me a sneak preview of what to expect in my mailbox via the standard car magazines.
Today I was extremely excited about their new featured article, “Clash of the V8-Powered Titans – The Audi RS5 meets the M3”.
When I clicked on the article I was sent to a page with over 1500 words all about Audi vs. BMW. There were action shots of the Audi and BMW sparring on a road course somewhere. I was getting ready to settle in for possibly one of the best comparison articles of the year.
But as I started reading, I noticed that there was a lot of extra marketing info about the cars and the manufacturer’s philosophy behind the cars. What it came down to was really just an article previewing the Audi RS5 and how looks compared to the benchmark. This article is not a comparison test. It isn’t even a first drive. It is just a tease.
Inside Line is anticipating a potential showdown between the RS5 and the M3 CSL. However, the M3 CSL may not even make it to production because there isn’t enough demand for a such a niche vehicle.
The interesting thing about the Audi RS5 and its little brother the S5 is how they get their power. The new S5 and S4 will no longer be powered by a V8, but a turbo-charged V6 like the older S4’s. The V6 S4 and S5 will have 350hp and that equals 10 more hp than last years V8 S4. The RS5 goes the turbocharged V8 route to 450hp out of its 4.2 liters.
Ok, so the article wasn’t that bad, I was just disappointed that what looked like a comparison test was just a tease. You can read the full tease at Inside Line.
Tags: Audi · BMW · M3 · RS5
September 21st, 2008 · 2 Comments
Sometimes I think Japan and Germany still have a mini-grudge against the USA because of how WWII turned out.
Japan’s Honda Motor Cars has a for a long time kept their very best Civic to themselves in the form of the Civic Type-R. Another hot rod Civic has been making the rounds as Honda thumbs its nose at America with the new Honda Civic Mugen RR.
The RR is Honda’s 237hp Civic that is nearly track-ready. Take a Honda Civic Type-R and let Mugen tune it and you end up with this little gem that the American car buying public will never get a chance to buy. Actually, no body is going to get a chance to buy the best Civic. The RR started its life sold out. There are only 300 of these confusing little cars. Confusing, because this car has a serious identity crisis. It is basically a full-on track car that started its life as an economy car.
And on the other end of the scale is another car that is making the rounds in the automotive test fleets and that is the Audi RS6. The Audi has more than twice the power and cylinders of the Civic. It is powered by a 571hp twin-turbocharged V10. Ahhh, I love the smell of overkill in the morning.
The meanest A6 has a conservative factory 0-60 estimate of 4.5 seconds. It will be faster than that.
There are no plans to bring this version of the Audi RS6 to the USA. Are the Germans still bitter? They actually plan to bring the next version of the RS6 to America in 2012, but a lot can change in 4 years. The one thing the RS6 isn’t, is a deal. This sedan is on sale right now in Germany for $126,000. That puts the RS6 in some rarified company, but it has the horsepower to back it up.
If you really want one of these cars I would suggest the one of the 1000 Honda Civic Mugen Si’s that came to America this year.
Or if you need a RS Audi sedan you can buy the 420hp Audi RS4.
You can read more about each of these cars at Inside Line.
Honda Civic Mugen RR
Audi RS6
Honda Civic Mugen Si Sedan
Audi RS4
Tags: Audi · Civic Si · Honda · Mugen RR · RS6
September 19th, 2008 · 1 Comment
Redline is Saturn’s performance division. Redline doesn’t have near the history or credibility that AMG or BMW’s M division, but they are busy making Saturns better.
The Saturn Ion Redline was made from 2004-2007. It featured a 205hp and 200lb-ft torque supercharged power plant. There are other little hot hatches that have similar horsepower numbers but can’t match the strong torque of the supercharged engine. The Ion Redline hits 60 seconds in 6.1 seconds.
The numbers aren’t bad, the styling is ok. The interior features a boost gauge and Recaro seats and comes with a manual transmission, the way sports cars gears were meant to be changed. Unfortunately, the Ion Red Line is front-wheel drive, which it means it front wheels have to do all the work of steering and putting the down to the pavement.
On paper it looks like Saturn has produced an average sporty compact car. On the surface there are a number of cars like this or even better than it on the market. Cars like the VW GTI, the Honda Civic Si, and the Nissan Sentra SE-R. However, the Ion Red Line is fantasticly fun drive.
This car is worth the test drive. I’ve had the opportunity to run this car around a short autocross course and it really impressed me with how fun this car is to drive. You could feel every single one of the 205hp and the strong torque curve of the little eco-tech engine.
The Saturn Ion Red Line is one of those cars that deserves a test drive. You can find slightly used examples on Autotrader.com with about 30k miles on them for less than $15,000.
If you see a little Ion sitting in a used car lot with a “Red Line” on it. Take it for a spin, it is a fun car.
The subtle silver square with a Red Line is your clue to find Saturn’s sporty side. And if the Red Line seems familiar it is GM cousin to the Chevy Cobalt SS.
Tags: Red Line · Saturn
September 18th, 2008 · Comments Off on Follow Frank Bullitt on His Historic Chase
Modern GPS tracking technology meets classic movies and Steve McQueen on the internet. This technology comes courtesy from Seero.com. Seero is a website that puts videos and GPS together.
They’ve taken the one of the most famous movie chases and put the video side-by-side with a GPS tracking map. It even “tells on the movie” a bit by skipping across town when the movie chase doesn’t follow actual geography.
Seero also has mapped the first chase from Smokey and the Bandit.
So if you’ve got a long ways to go and short time to get there check out this interesting mix of classic movie chases and modern technology.
Thanks to folks at Ridestory.com for doing a great write-up about all things Bullitt and introducing me to Seero.
Tags: Bullitt · Cars · Ford
September 17th, 2008 · Comments Off on The LS2 is Where?
The ubiquitous GM LS2 V8 is one of the great engines for sale right now. It evolved from the infamous LS1 engine and turned into the 6.0 liter 400hp heart of the 2005 Corvette. The LS2 has also served time in the Pontiac GTO, Chevy Trailblazer SS, Chevy SSR and the Cadillac CTS-V. The LS2 is also serving in GM’s European and Australian cars in the Vauxhall Monaro VXR and the Holden Special Vehicles.
There is one more place that LS2 is put into duty by Saab in their SUV. The Saab 9-7 Aero is an AWD SUV with 400lb-ft of torque and 390hp.
This Saab SUV firmly places the ”Sport” in SUV. It also has a great does of style and luxury. Saab is proud of this vehicle. The MSRP is $47,000. However, right now, GM has its employee pricing, and there a ton of incentives on this gas eating 364cid V8. People aren’t interesting burning that much gas for a go fast SUV. However, if you are looking for a high speed, luxury, stealthy SUV then you can get a great deal on the 9-7 Aero.
The current incentives put this $47,275 SUV at $34,788. That is over $12,000 off! That’s a heck of deal if you can afford the gas.
Tags: 9-7 Aero · Horsepower · Saab
September 17th, 2008 · 1 Comment
About 18 months automotive writer Kevin Miller started an Anti-Camry Blog. Yes, it is an actual blog about his frustrations of sharing the road with Camrys. I have a found a kindred spirit.
Here is an excerpt from his inaugural post.
“I’ve been infuriated by drivers of dumpy, dented tan Toyotas one too many times. This blog is going to be the outlet for my frustrations.
Yes, I exist in a higher level of automotive being. Your Totyotas are transportation appliances to you, just another refrigerator or washing machine, enabling you to go about your drearly daily tasks with as little joy as possible. You don’t care if they are dirty, dented, smoking, or even if you do a poor job driving them. But I care that you’re getting in my way, and clogging up the roads I need to drive on.”
It is scary how much I agree with him and I’ve even posted on this site a few times my disdain for the “transportation appliances”. Start paying attention to what the bad drivers are driving out there. Next time you see someone do something stupid on the road look at the make and model of that car. More often than not, it is a Camry or one of its derivatives.
Anyway, if this is a frustration you share, spend a little time at the Anti-Camry Blog. It is entertaining. Unfortunately for the members of the Anti-Camry faction this site’s last update was a few months ago. It appears that Kevin is now a regular contributor at Autosavant.com.
It’s nice to know that I’m not along in the blogosphere with my Camry hating. Maybe, I won’t need therapy after all and I can use that money to make my GTO faster!
Tags: Camry · Toyota
September 17th, 2008 · Comments Off on Supercharger + V8 + Luxury + Deal = S-Type R
V8s, superchargers and sleeper sedans, these are a few of my favorite things. These are also traits belonging to today’s “Car of the Day”. At the heart of today’s car beats a supercharged 4.2 liter V8. Today’s car is the 2003 Jaguar S-Type R. You can find gently used versions of the S-Type R in the $16k-$20k range.
The S-Type R gets nearly 400hp and 408 lb-ft of torque out of its boosted 4.2. The supercharger transforms the Jaguar from an average V8 luxury sedan to a near BMW M5. The M5 is technically a better performance vehicle. The M5 is a bit faster and handles better. The Jag is no slouch. It can hit 60mph in 5.3 seconds and is a pulley swap from quick jump in horsepower.
The S-Type is where people are looking for performance sedans. They call the Jaguar hood ornament a “leaper”; on this car it could be called the “sleeper”. Some different wheels and a couple of “R” badges and different grille are about all the S-Type R has to identify it as the most powerful Jaguar sedan.
If you want stealth, power, style and luxury for a deal then look into a 2003 Jaguar S-Type R.
Tags: Jaguar · S-Type R
September 16th, 2008 · Comments Off on The Mod Squad
No, not that Mod Squad. I’m talking about the people that “mod” their cars.
There is an entire industry out there where a lot of people are making some serious coin around aftermarket modifications of their vehicles. There are a lot of reasons people will modify their vehicles, but they can really be organized into 2 simple categories; “Go” or” Show”.
If you want your car to look unique, personalized or cooler you throw some “Show” mods onto the car. This can range from wheels to window tinting, glowing lights under the car to bumper stickers declaring your affiliations.
If you want to make your car perform better you start bolting on the “Go” mods. Perhaps cold air intake, an exhaust, a cam, headers, or even a supercharger might fit the bill. (if you don’t mind paying that bill)
The cool thing about mods is that they are as varied as the customers who purchase them. It gives an automotive enthusiast a way to customize or personalize their car into their own creation.
I’ve done a fair amount of modding to my vehicles and I started thinking about why I’m driven to make these modifications to my vehicle. I don’t really car about having a custom creation. I don’t care about “personalizing” my vehicle. I could do that with a pinstripe with my initials in it.
What it is boils down to is that I simply love my vehicles. And at times I may want to improve on a vehicle’s deficiency. Let’s say a car has crappy traction, that is fixed with a suspension mod or some really sticky tires. And other times I may want to improve on a vehicle’s strength. Especially, if that strength is one of the reasons that I like my car.
For example, a 6.0 liter V8 LS2 is a very nice engine. And the aftermarket has a number of parts to improve the power output of that engine. I’m not talking about risky modifications. I’m not talking about one-off custom changes to a motor. I’m talking about tried and true, installed on thousands of motors all over the world, proven improvements.
There a folks out there driving cars that have strong aftermarket support for them. Not strong support because their car is a the bestselling car in the land, but because is a platform that has significant racing support behind and room for improvement.
The GM LSX engines have a vastly superior aftermarket for their powerplants when compared to say the bestselling sedan in the country the Toyota Camry.
People aren’t buying Camrys to mod them and make them better. They are buying them to go from point A to point B. The entire automotive enthusiast world is lost on them. Camry drivers are really looking for a good selection of beige and other dirt-ish colors so they don’t have to wash their car. I’ve actually heard Camry owners beam about their slop-brown colored car by saying “oh yeah, and you can’t even tell when its dirty.” To which I think, “Great, a car that looks dirty all the time.” I’m going to stop my Camry rant now. (If you want to read more Camry ranting go here.)
Anyway, I love the way my car goes. I now want to make it go faster. I like the way it looks. I now want to make it look better. These are the base thoughts at the heart of the aftermarket customers.
(excuse me, I’ve got to go study what my next mod should be)
Tags: Camry · Cars · Horsepower · Miscellaneous · Toyota
September 15th, 2008 · 1 Comment
A few days ago The Truth About Cars posted the question to its readers of “Does the American muscle car have a future?”
Here’s my response to that question. (For best results this should be read with a redneck accent.)
Whoooweee! Man, what’chu talkin‘ ‘bout? Does the American muscle car have future? Dang me. Who knows? I can tell you what though. The American muscle car has got itself one heck of a “right now”.
The boys in Dee-troit, might be screwing up their bidnesses, but they got mo’ power now than ever before. And speaking of mo’ power let’s start with the boys at over at Dodge and Plymouth.
Well crapmuffins! I done forgotted that they already runned Plymouth in the ground. Maybe, if they had called it Prettymouth, they’d still be making cars, but I de-gress.
Anyhows, Mopar is still alive and hunt’n with their SRT fellers. They got themselves a 420hp Jeep with 4 wheel drive. There’s the SRT-8 sedans, the 300c and Charger both with 425hp fire-eating 6.1 liter Hemis! And everyone knows that Jesus drives a Hemi.
And of course there is the mother of all Chrysler powered SRT vehicles…..(while angels sing and a spotlight shines down on this car)….. the rebirth of the General Lee! I know the first General was a Charger, but the new one has got too many doors to weld shut. The Dodge Challenger SRT-8 gits it right. I’ll take mine with the big hemi, orange paint job, and the stars and bars on the roof. Oh, fartknobbers, I almost forgot, they still got that V10 515hp Viper. It’s got a little git-up in its get-along. That ‘bout covers the mopar guys. You might call them the .8 of the big 3, but when it comes to horsepower, they’re bringing the whole stable.
Ford may not have the variety of high horsepower vehicles, but the ones they do have make a pretty whine. I’m talking ‘bout the whine from the superchargers on that hot rod Mustang and that Ferrari eating GT. I’m mean what’s so great about Ferraris or even Italy for that matter?
And speaking of Italy and all things foreign, you ever notice how much car magazines love the Japanese, German and Italian cars? I find it a mighty bit suspicious, that those are the same countries my Granddaddy fought in WWII. Is it just me or is the third Reich trying to invade us with superior automotive technology. The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi! Well, chitlin stew, I done veered off topic like my drunk granny on the John Deere.
Chevy, yep, them some good Americans over there. A great American muscle car is alive and kicking with a future so bright, it just might graduate from community college. (and it don’t git no better than that where I come from) I’m talking ‘bout the shiny new Camaro. The cars at Chevy benefit from being related to Corvette and it has historically been a simple engine swap to get Corvette power in another car. (See the Firebirds, Camaros, GTOs, Chevelles and Novas.) And the current king of corvettes, the Elvis Presley of American muscle is the new ZR1 with 638hp. It’s one part V8, one part supercharger and 4 parts goes-like-stink. As long as there’s a Corvette, there’s a power train for GM muscle cars and the completion will compete with their own muscle cars.
So, back to the question at hand, does the American muscle car have a future? Does moonshine still need running? Yes and heck, yes. Chevy’s got themselves plans for the next Corvette with the top secret code name “C7”. (you didn’t hear that secret name from me)
Yeppers, I was pondering this question, real serious like, out on the porch, and then it hit me, hit me like the kick of double-barreled 12 gauge shotgun, loaded with buck shot. The future of the American muscle car depends on the Americans and in particular the American muscle car fan.
We all know that Al Gore wants to kill the V8. But he ain’t the boss of what car I buy. And we can’t all get farm emission exemptions for our cars. We also gots to be nicer to mamma Earth and use less gas. These things sound like bad news to sports cars, kinda like learning your girlfriend is your cousin.
This has all happened before. Back in the early 70s when Petty was the king of NASCAR and beer was cheap, the future looked bad for the muscle car. The muscle car even took a few years off. At that point if you wanted muscle you went to the used car market. And then the muscle cars started coming back as technology caught up to the laws back then.
So worst case scenario, muscle cars go on hiatus. But if they do, they will be back like Willie Nelson; we love them too much for them to become extinct.
Tags: Cars · Horsepower
